Syria: The Middle East's Tire Yard Fire

Ever seen a tire fire?

They are a lingering yet cancerous domestic disaster. The
rubber lasts for ages, keeping the fire alive far longer than any other substance.
Tire fires threaten the quality of life—and life itself. The smoke from a pile
of blazing tires can last for months. The haze pollutes the air, damages
commerce, and endangers surrounding communities.

And lots of water won’t put them out right away.

In Southern California, we get heat and smoke advisories
because of periodic inland fires.  At
least this year, Governor Brown declared that emergency drought conditions are
ending. There’s so much water in California now, even Los Angeles County does
not register with drought conditions.

But tire yards set on fire are a fire-fighter’s nightmare,
and sadly the are the first and sadly most accurate image that comes to mind
when I think of the Syrian Civil war. For two years, this international
conflagration has dominating the news and bloodshed in the Middle East (aside from
ISIS).

For two years converging Islamic, Christian, and secular forces
have been digging, shooting, fighting, throwing whatever they have at the other
side. Oops. Major correction. This is not a civil war, as much as civil wars,
and there are many sides to this multifaceted, complex conflict. And none of
them are good guys to work with.

Bashar al-Assad, ophthalmologist-turned brutal dictator of Syria,
is part of the Alawite tribe, which belongs to the predominantly minority Shi’ite
sect of Islam. Iraq is a Shi’ite country, even though the former dictator
Saddam Hussein was a  Sunni. Al-Qaeda
belongs to the Sunni branch of Islam, too, and so does Saudi Arabia and the
vast majority of Muslim countries around the world.

But remember that Al-Qaeda hates Saudi Arabia, and Saudi
Arabia is afraid of Iran. Iran, once under a more moderate dictatorship, is now
run by radical ayatollahs building a nuclear weapon, and they waged an
eight-year with Iraq during nearly the entire Reagan Administration. Then
George W. Bush invaded Iraq, which established a somewhat stable democracy.
That’s all but over since ISIS has overrun the region of Northern Iraq as well
as Eastern Syria.

Then there are the Kurds, who are the most well-educated of
the differing ethnic groups in the region. They loved President Bush. They want
to establish their own country, but Turkey, once thought to be the most
moderate and modern Islamic countries, won’t have it. Oh, and Turkey had its
own military coup, with President Erdogan turning himself into a deity of the
people, who are now dying to get out, too, while taking in hundreds of
thousands of refugees from the Middle East … who in turn are invading Europe
and waging jihad of the heart, mouth, and the hand, i.e. sword, gun, and even
truck.

Which brings us back to Syria, the inferno of civil wars, with
no good guys all fighting each other, and using weapons delivered by American
troops in a conflict which has raged for two years. Oh, and let’s not forget
the Christians, Jews, and Yazidis, another minority, a thankfully non-violent
sect. The Christian groups in the region are a real head-scratcher. Some ethnic
Christians actually ally with the Lebanon terrorist group Hezbollah! Some
Christians in Syria love Israel, but hate the Israeli Prime minister. Other Christian
groups hate Israel entirely. All Christians are victims of genocide at the
hands of ISIS. And the Christians were safer under the cruel Assad regime,
while Assad himself attacks his own people.

There are no Jews in Syria, of course, but one of the few
books still for sale in any Damascus bookstore (if they are still open) is the
Czarist anti-Semitic forgery The
Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Oh, and ISIS is cutting off the heads of gays, Christians,
or anyone else who does not submit to Sharia law.

The Syrian conflict is an international tire fire. No amount
of “water” will put this fire out. Humanitarian aid? To whom? Send troops? Hell
no! No one should allow our American blood into the guerrilla-style firing fray
endemic to the region.

But does the United States just sit and shout “Burn, baby,
burn”? If only Barack Obama had done that. Instead, he launched out into
uncharted terror-tory, I mean territory—aside from everything and everyone on
fire—and announced a red line” if Syria used chemical weapons against their own
people.

Bashar al-Assad gassed his people, violated international
law (as if we should care), and Obama did nothing.

Obama’s inaction followed an apology tour throughout the
Middle East four years prior. Internal rebellions toppled stable yet corrupt
and oppressive regimes through the Middle East and North Africa, and Islamic
terrorist satellites swung into orbit around the upcoming ISIS death star.

Now comes the Trump Administration. The President decided to
bomb the airfield where Assad released nerve gas, killing innocent civilians: red
line crossed again. Instead of “hope and change” mantras, Trump launched 59
missiles.

Trump accomplished the following without killing anyone:

1. Demonstrated that the United States is not leading from
behind.

2. Showed strength to shake up Islamic terrorists in the
region.

3. Put Iran, Syria, Russia, and North Korea on notice that he
is a man of his word, and of action.

4. Blew up the lie that he is a puppet of Russia.

5. Demonstrated soft power to curb the spread of the
international fire in the Middle East from affecting the United States in the
near future.

Am I worried about an escalation of American intervention?